Attack of the Crab Monsters ** (1957, Richard Garland, Pamela Duncan, Russell Johnson) – Classic Movie Review 3,913

Roger Corman’s cult favourite 1957 monster movie Attack of the Crab Monsters has a wild title and a big ugly creature. He recalled: ‘This was the most successful of all the early low budget horror movies.’

Director Roger Corman’s early-career 1957 monster movie Attack of the Crab Monsters is only his second sci-fi film, following Not of this Earth (1957). The independently made American black-and-white science fiction-horror film Attack of the Crab Monsters provided lots of simple fantasy entertainment in its day and is now a small cultish item. It stars Richard Garland and Pamela Duncan and Russell Johnson.

Both films were produced by Corman through his Los Altos Productions company and made for distribution by Allied Artists. They ended up being Corman’s most successful early films.

Corman remembered Attack of the Crab Monsters as: ‘The most successful of all the AIP (American International Pictures) horror movies. I have to admit its title had a lot to do with the film’s success.’

Corman recalled: ‘This was the most successful of all the early low budget horror movies. I think its success had something to do with the wildness of the title which, even I admit, is pretty off-the-wall. However, I do think a lot of its popularity had to do with the construction of the plotline. You always had the feeling that something, anything was about to happen. I think this construction, plus the fact that the creature was big and ugly, won audiences.’

Charles B Griffith’s screenplay follows the story of huge, intelligent, mutant, brain-eating crabs – the result of nuclear weapons tests – inconveniently causing landslides and attacking humans on a shrinking remote Pacific island. A group of scientists get stranded on the island when their airplane explodes, and, what with the monster crabs and the island is slowly sinking into the ocean, they’re between a rock and a hard place.

As usual with Corman, it was quickly made (in 10 days) and ultra-cheap ($70,000 to $80,000). Cheap it may be but it is still very cheerful, thanks to the inventive script and Corman’s air of bemused cynicism. It earned an estimated $1 million at the box office, or $800,000 in the double bill.

Charles B Griffith, who writes the screenplay, also appears uncredited as Seaman Tate. He recalled: ‘Roger came to me and said, “I want suspense or action in every scene. No kind of scene without suspense or action. He just didn’t want to bother cutting out the other scenes.” Perhaps because of that, it runs only 62 minutes.

Griffith also directed some underwater sequences. He recalled: ‘I had just read The Silent World by Jacques Cousteau. So I wrote all the underwater stuff and went to Roger and told him I’d direct all the underwater parts for $100. I’d be down at the bottom of the tank at Marineland trying to get actors to do something while cinematographer Floyd Crosby was hammering at the glass window trying to get them to do something else. It was all pretty silly.’

It is Pamela Duncan’s first Corman film, followed by The Undead a month later.

Also in the cast are Leslie Bradley, Mel Welles, Richard H Cutting, Tony Miller, Ed Nelson, Charles B Griffith and Beach Dickerson.

Attack of the Crab Monsters is directed by Roger Corman, runs 62 minutes, is made by Los Altos Productions, is distributed by Allied Artists, is written by Charles B Griffith, is shot in black-and-white by Floyd Crosby, is produced by Roger Corman, and is scored by Ronald Stein.

Release date: February 10, 1957 (U.S.).

The cast are Richard Garland as Dale Drewer, Pamela Duncan as Martha Hunter, Russell Johnson as Hank Chapman, Leslie Bradley as Dr Karl Weigand, Mel Welles as Jules Deveroux, Richard H Cutting as Dr James Carson, Beach Dickerson as Seaman Ron Fellows, Tony Miller as Seaman Jack Sommers, David Arvedon (voice) as Hoolar the Giant Crab, Charles B Griffith as Seaman Tate, Maitland Stuart as Seaman Mac, Ed Nelson, Robin Riley as stunt diver.

It was released in the US on 10 February 1957 in a double bill with Not of This Earth.

Roger Corman died at his home in Santa Monica, California, on 9 May 2024 at the age of 98.

Charles B Griffith (September 23, 1930 – September 28, 2007) is best known for writing Roger Corman productions such as A Bucket of Blood (1959), The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), and Death Race 2000 (1975).

Russell Johnson (1924–2014)

Russell Johnson died from kidney failure at his home in Bainbridge Island, Washington, on January 16, 2014, aged 89.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,913

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